Preview: R.E.M., Modest Mouse, The National

Michael Stipe, Peter Buck and Mike Mills decided that instead of laboring over the writing and recording of their new record, titled “Accelerate,” as they have with their recent lackluster output, they would plow ahead quickly and viscerally and see what comes out. Well, the appropriately titled record is REM’s most abrasive in some time, a generally rockin’ affair that finds Stipe wielding some of his most effective phrases in a while. Some reviewers have called it the band’s best record since Bill Berry left the group—personally, I’ve always been a fan of 1998’s “Up,” which was a reinvention for Stipe and crew, but I get the point, and you will as well. Frankly, “Around the Sun” (2004) and “Reveal” (2001) were terrible. Welcome back, you Hall-of-Famers. That’s not all in the offering, however—Modest Mouse plays as well, as Isaac Brock and crew adopt their newfound arena-rock appeal, as does The National, whose “Boxer” was the best record of 2007, in my opinion. (Tom Lynch)Friday, June 6 at United Center